Tallula's Vet Visit Today !

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Stazz

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Well, my little baby girl went to the vet today, just to have a check up and had a fecal test. The vet was very happy with her health on the outside, and she was amazed at how feisty and friendly Tallula is hehe. I waited for fecal results, which came up pretty much as I expected. She has/had some roundworm and parasite eggs inside her, no actual worms. They actually let me have a look at it all under the microscope, not much to worry about. They gave her some Panacur ???Vet said that she uses it on tortoises and never had a problem ever, so Im hoping its ok !! Was so sad having to watch them hold her head and neck out, and then forcing her mouth open to get the liquid down her throat, she wasn't very happy, but shes fine and eating merrily now !!
 

Akuma

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No need to force the tortoise head and neck out for it to swallow whatever liquid medication.

Get yourself one of these:

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It's a plastic syringe with a plastic tip at the end of it (no needle).

Load it up with the medication that is needed for the tortoise.
Feed the tortoise.
When the tortoise opens its mouth to eat, quickly insert the plastic tip end of the syringe inside the tortoises mouth, squeeze out the medication and presto!

Alterntively, you could hide the syringe tip under a leaf/salad so that only teh leaf is visible for the tortoise and as soon the tortoise takes a bite, squeeze out the liquid.

No need to pry open the mouth and force the meds down, no hazzle and no unneccesary force towards the tortoise is needed.

As for your tortoise, I hope it gets better.
 

Isa

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Stace, I am glad Tallula is ok but I am sorry to hear they found eggs in her stool. Do you have to give her the antobiotic for a certain amount of time or it was a one time dose. What i do when I have to give liquid antibiotic to Hermy is putting the antibiotic on his favorite piece of lettuce of on a little piece of straberry or cactus pear, he eats it all and does not know about the antibiotic :D.
 

Stazz

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Wow thanks for that info Akuma, I'll remember that if I need to next time! Thanks Isa, I'm glad she's okay too, luckily it was just one dose of the Panacur. She's doing well, having a snooze at the moment hehe. The vet was a lovely british Doctor, and I'll defintiely go back there again when needed. And I was so proud how well Tallula did, and didn't bite hehe. They loved her, and she got so much attention at the vet, which she absolutely loved!
 

egyptiandan

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Glad she did okay at the vets Stace. :) Don't be suprised though if you start to see her passing adult worms (the eggs have to come from somewhere :p) Panacur doesn't kill the worms, it just makes them let go of the lining of the intestine. This way they can be passed out. For mammals one dose works fine as they eliminate quickly. Tortoises don't eliminate anywhere near as fast, so the worms can have a chance to grab on again. Thats why it's always good to do it 3 times at 2 week intervals. That way you can be sure all the adults have let go and gotten passed.

Danny
 

Laura

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Danny, I was going to say something similar.. Whos laying the eggs?
You rarely see the adults in a fecal test. Or in the feces. ( poop) thats why they look under the microscope, to see the eggs.
Glad they caught it.
 

Stazz

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Hahahaha you are so correct about the fact that eggs can't just appear from no where, I did think that but didn't click hehe!!! SO do you think I have to go buy some Pancur at the vet and administor it myself, like Akuma suggested? Omg. I'm not looking forward to seeing her pass worms, eeeek. My poor little Tallookie! Will the worms be alive? I'll keep a close eye on her. Danny, if she had a dose today, when shall the next two be administered? I'just checked the receipt from the vet, and they gave her 100ml of the Panacur. I did see they had bottles of it there, so will have to go back to get more, will be cheaper to do it myself than go to the vet each time.
 

egyptiandan

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Oh yes the worms will be alive ;)

You need to do it again in 2 weeks, than 2 weeks after that. :)

Danny
 

Stazz

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Omg, I can't handle worms hahahahaha, anyway, will do it for Tallula, take one for the team ! Or get Nick to clear it up haha. Ok thanks so much for your help Danny, I'll go back to the vet to buy some Panacur and syringe thingy as the pic above. :D
 

terryo

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I'm sure with your care she'll be fine.....but I was wondering how do they get these worms. Does it come from some kind of food....are there precautions we should take?
 

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They ingest something that has the eggs on it. If your tortoise is grazing, he most likely bit off a piece of grass with bird poop on it. The bird poop would have had the worm eggs in it. This is another very good reason to wash everything that you feed your tortoise before putting it away in the fridge!

Yvonne
 

tortoisenerd

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Stace-Glad things went well! I would call up the vet and state you are worried that she only got one dose, and does she need more. If they say no, then say you'd be more comfortable with it and ask if you can pick up more medicine. I found it easy to make a "sandwich" with the lettuce and the medicine to hand feed to Trevor to make sure he ate it and it didn't get all over his face. I recommend a substrate change and washing of cage furnishings so hopefully she won't get re-infected. Hope you don't see the worms! Ick. Don't be surprised if she acts a bit off as sometimes these meds upset their tummies. Best wishes.

Yvonne-that was a great example of how torts can easily pick up a parasite even when captive bred or even when an indoor tort (with greens we give them). I hope people get their torts tested regularly for parasites like I do. A lot of peace of mind.
 

Candy

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I guess this is one time that you wouldn't want them eating their own poop. She could re-ingest the worms and you could have to start all over again. :( Just a thought. I'm glad she did so well at the vet.
 

Stazz

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Thanks everyone !!! Kate, yeah you're right, I'll be off to the garden center this week to get more soil. Whats the best way for me to really clean her enclosure well before I put the new substrate in? I wash every leaf of lettuce and every little thing I give Tallula, maybe she had the worms before I got her? Who knows. Tallula doesn't eat her poop, she doesnt even go near it, like it disgusts her heehee, my little girl ! But she could do it when Im not there, she could also throw big parties when Im not there haha.Kate, I'll call the vet today and see what I can do, I'll tell her my professional tort keeper friends (I told her about TFO excitedly!) suggest that T gets two more doses, I'm sure she'd agree. I'm definitely going to do a fecal regularly so as I know she is getting better and healthy at all times. The fecal was so cheap, I expected it to be more ! It was AED85 or 95 (dirhams), which is about $23-25. Will keep you all posted !
 

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emysemys said:
They ingest something that has the eggs on it. If your tortoise is grazing, he most likely bit off a piece of grass with bird poop on it. The bird poop would have had the worm eggs in it. This is another very good reason to wash everything that you feed your tortoise

Actually, how will washing prevent parasites if they likely will pick them up anyhow?
For the life of me, I cannot understand why people take perfectly healthy, thriving Torts to a Vet. If it is acting healthy, it probably is. Why waste your money and stress out the poor animal?
 

Yvonne G

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Shelly said:
For the life of me, I cannot understand why people take perfectly healthy, thriving Torts to a Vet. If it is acting healthy, it probably is. Why waste your money and stress out the poor animal?

When you first get a tortoise its a good idea to have a vet's "well baby check-up." This gets your tortoise's vital statistics placed in a record and will show any changes that occur down the road.

Tortoises in the wild don't get such bad parasite loads as captive tortoises do because they aren't restricted within four walls and wander freely over much space. Also, in the wild, tortoises (actually many animals) seem to know which plants to eat that help them rid themselves of a parasite load.

The first visit might be stressful, but after that, you are both more relaxed and not as stressed out. Also, you can buy the Panacur, get the dosage from the vet, and do it yourself the next time.

Yvonne
 

tortoisenerd

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I agree with the well baby as then you are established at a vet so in an emergency you can more easily take the tort in. Also, many times a tort will have an illness or parasite without any symptoms.

Washing stuff is more meant for a non-grazing tort, as many of our torts here are indoors with a little outdoors time due to climates and housing situations (mine, and I believe Tallula is indoors plus some time on a patio in a container). Yes if the tort grazes, not much you can do unless you see obvious poop on stuff, and keep away birds and other animals. Being aware of this and frequent fecal testing are the most important things in my opinion.

Stace-I would think it was more likely Tallula got worms before you got her. Just my opinion though. That's what I think about Trevor's coccidia too. What type of enclosure? Once you take the substrate out I think you are fine with just making sure you get it out. If you could wipe it out, then you can do so if you wish. It's unlikely that Tallula comes into close contact with the very edges and bottom of the container (or that her poop did as she poops on the surface), so in my opinion changing the substrate and washing or replacing everything else does the trick.
 

Stazz

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Yeah you are actually correct Kate, I'll just change up the substrate and replace the plastic liner, she doesn't burrow all the time - forgot I have plastic there haha.
You are also right about Tallula, just like Trevor, is indoors and sometimes on my terrace when I'm around. I will definitely be doing frequent fecal testing, so glad it is cheap for me, and it's so worth every penny and more for Tallula's well being. I can tell she's not herself, she almost looks sad, but I keep tickling her and talking to her and telling her its gonna be okay hehe, I know she can understand me !

Yeah Shelly, I see what you mean, but this was Tallula's first vet visit ever. I wanted to establish us with a exotics vet so for emergencies, I don't have to fill in forms etc, and I wanted her fecal checked anyway. I don't care how much money I spend on Tallula, I'm just happy to have the peace of mind that I have taken her, and she's healthy apart from the worms, which we are sorting out.
 

Stazz

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Well I still haven't found any worms ! I keep checking her enclosure when I get home from work, and Tallula herself is doing well, eating well, and pretty active that I can see !
 

Crazy1

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Stace, Glad Tallula is in good health. I know you will have those worm eggs etc out of her in no time and life will be good again.
Shelly, sometimes if you purchase a tort it is a good thing to get them checked out within a week as they sometimes come with conditions of ownership. When I purchased my first I had to have them checked by a vet within 10 days or the warranty would have been void. Mine were fine but did have worms, just like Tallula. Three doses later they were fine and I never did see any adult worms. :)
 
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